by Alberto Moravia

Novelist, playwright, essayist, short-story writer, travel writer, film reviewer, and activist, Alberto Pincherle (1907-90) was one of Italy’s key early-twentieth-century intellectuals. His father’s wealthy Roman family was Jewish. Young Alberto suffered from tuberculosis until the age of 18 and started to write early in life to combat the loneliness of his ailment. At 22, under the name Alberto Moravia, the seasoned writer published his first novel, Gli indifferenti (1929; The Indifferent Ones) to literary and popular acclaim. He went on to compose works critical of totalitarianism and to become active in the pacifist movement, at the same time gaining a reputation for being sexually liberal. Together these qualities made Moravia a controversial figure in Italy until his death in 1990. He became romantically involved with two female writers, Elsa Morante, whom he married and divorced, and Dacia Maraini (see A History and The Silent Duchess...